Heaven is Overcast
by Knight-Dawn
Summary: It was Itachi's first day at the academy, and he didn't quite know how to feel. He never knew how he should feel. Some people just seem destined for misfortune. Itachi is one of them. Why does everyone have such high expectations set for him? Three-shot.
1. One: Pure Love

_One: Pure Love_

It was Itachi's first day at the academy, and he didn't quite know how to feel. On one hand, he was excited to finally be old enough to start. His parents were proud of him. On the other... He didn't know if he wanted to follow this path, didn't know if he would be any good. He was scared he would mess up. Then again, he was scared to be too good... In short, it was overwhelming.

He kept his head down as he took a seat towards the back of the classroom. He didn't want to stand out, sitting in the front. That was for overachievers, which he wasn't. He thought about the look that had been on his father's face when he'd been dropped off outside. He'd been beaming with pride for his oldest son. Itachi sighed a little, thinking of those eyes on his back. Always on his back.

Then Itachi's eyes were drawn to the door. Class would begin soon, but there were still some students arriving. One came in just as he glanced at the door, and in his curiosity he couldn't help but stare.

She kept her head down, and her long black hair fell over her face. She carried her books close to her, like they were a shield but also as though she were shielding them. She, too, took a seat in the back, all the way across the room from Itachi. When she sat down quietly, and set the books down in front of her, she looked up, almost suddenly, right at Itachi.

Who knows how long they would have been frozen like that, eye to eye, if the instructor hadn't announced the start of class. They both had to turn away and pay attention. But even while looking at the teacher, her face haunted his vision... Her face, and her deep, dark eyes. So sad, so wise for one so young. So like his own. He couldn't help but wonder...

Class was dismissed temporarily for lunch. Itachi stepped out behind the crowd, searching for his own lunch in his bag even while his eyes scanned the yard for the girl. He spotted her sitting alone in the shadow of a tree, watching the other children. None of them seemed to notice her. Come to think of it, no one had paid her any mind at all... Except for him. Quietly, Itachi made his way across the yard to where she sat. She looked up as he sat down.

"Do you mind?" He asked, gently.

She smiled slightly. Even that was almost sad. "No." She said.

He started eating his onigri. She only had a little bit of bread. Itachi swallowed the bit he'd been eating, then broke off part of what was left and offered it to her.

She looked at it, her eyes glancing from the onigri to Itachi's eyes then back. He smiled. "Here, take it. My mom made it for me. It's really good."

"Thank you." She said.

That was it. They sat in silence for the rest of lunch, neither one sure what they should say or do next. Itachi was about to say something, but they were called in by the bell before he got the chance.

As he sat down in the classroom, he glanced over to her, and this time they shared a smile.

...

After class, Itachi was about to walk home when he saw she was headed in the same direction. "Hey!" He said, running to catch her.

She stopped, and turned to him. She smiled again when she saw it was him. "Oh."

He grinned. "Mind if I walk with you for a while? I don't know where you live..."

"You don't even know my name." She pointed out.

"No." He agreed, laughing. "Mine's Itachi Uchiha. What's yours?"

She paused. "Mi... Minori. Minori Uchiha."

Itachi's smile faded as he wondered why she seemed so scared. "What's wrong, Mi?"

She shook her head. "Walk with me."

He did, and they were silent for a long time, until there was no one else around. Then Minori spoke up again. "Sorry. I... I wish I could tell you, but I can't."

"I'd never hurt you Mi." Itachi said, and as he did, he realized it was the truth.

She smiled. "I know. That's why I'll tell you... someday." She said, looking up at the sky.

Itachi smiled. "I can wait."

Soon they came to an old, lonely building. "Here's my stop." Minori said, quietly, opening the rusty gate. Itachi shot the building a questioning glance. "I didn't know anyone lived there..."

"I do." She said. "See you." She ran along the dusty path, opened the door, and vanished into the darkness.

Itachi stared after her for quite a while. Wondering. Why didn't she live in the Uchiha district, like all the others? What was she so afraid of?

"See you." Itachi said, letting go of the rusty bars.

…

The next day, and for several days after that, it was much the same. They avoided each other mostly in the day, except sometimes at lunch, and would walk together. They would mostly talk when they were away from everyone else.

"Tachi-kun?" She asked one day, as they were walking home, just outside the old gate.

"What is it Mi-mi-chan?"

"I... I want to tell you something." They both stopped and stood still.

"What is it?"

"You're a really nice person."

Itachi smiled. "So are you."

"You're smart, too... You have the best grades in our class."

"So?" Itachi asked. "You're not bad yourself, are you?"

"I could be better. I mess up on purpose."

Itachi wrinkled his brow. "Why would you do that?"

"I don't... I don't want attention."

Itachi looked at her. "Why not?"

"Don't you understand?" She asked. "Don't you feel their eyes on you?"

Itachi frowned. "...Yeah. I know." He felt the same way. But he didn't want her to know that.

She opened the gate, then stopped and smiled at him sadly. "I'm glad I met you. I like you a lot, you know that?"

Itachi felt his cheeks grow warm as he smiled shyly. "I... I like you a lot, too, Mi-mi."

"I'm glad we got to be friends."

She turned away and walked up to the house silently. Itachi stood there, staring after her longer than usual. Wondering. What was this feeling?

He felt happy, yes, but there was something on the edge of it... Something dark and frightening. While her words had reassured him, there was something final about them, too.

Reluctantly, he let go of the rusty gate, and headed home as usual.

...

The next day at the academy, her seat was empty. Itachi couldn't stop glancing to it, because it's emptiness left an emptiness inside him... And fear.

He ate alone at lunch.

After school, he ran down the road until he came to Minori's house. Standing at the gate, he threw down his bag and grabbed the bars of the rusty gate. "Mi! Minori! Can you hear me?" He shouted. There was no response, but the frantic beating of his own heart. "Miiii-chan?"

He finally gave up, and kicked the gate open. Hopefully her parents would understand. He ran up the path and started pounding on the door. "Hello?"

Then the door gave slightly, and slid open a crack. "Hello?" He asked, barely a whisper, now.

No response. Itachi bit his lip, and pushed the door open with his hands. It was dark inside. He slipped off his shoes and stepped in. To his surprise, there was dust all over the floor. Weird. He felt a deep dread descend on him.

As he walked through the house, he saw no signs of life inside at all. It was like it had been abandoned for years. "Mi-chan?" He pleaded, quietly. "Mi-mi? Minori?"

There was no response.

He finally had to head home and pretend like nothing was wrong. At school, he checked the records, not trusting to ask the instructor, but there was nothing about a Minori Uchiha having ever attended the academy. Like she had never existed. But she had. She had to.

After that, Itachi saw no point in classes. He had no passion for them. He never had. But he couldn't let his father down... He graduated within the year, a truly gifted individual. Like he had to be. For his father, for Sasuke. For Mi-chan, wherever she was. He had to find her... The sooner he graduated through the ranks, the sooner he could dedicate himself to that. The sooner they could be together.

So Itachi thought.


	2. Two: Falling Dread

_Two: Falling Dread_

So the story goes on. Itachi went from Gennin to Chunnin... and soon, he was asked to join ANBU. Of course he accepted the offer. There was no option for failure.

He was haunted on many accounts. By the memories of the third great war, by memories of Minori, by the look he saw in Sasuke's eyes whenever his little brother looked at their father. He felt deep regret for that. He wished the man would turn his eyes to his younger son... It would make both children happier. Sasuke wanted attention, Itachi wanted rid of it.

When he went to his first ANBU meeting, he walked into the room and out of time.

Sitting there, across the room, was a face he could never have forgotten. It was a reverse of the first moment they'd seen each other. Him walking in, her sitting there. Minori. She looked up, met his eyes for a moment, then slowly looked away.

He felt his heart breaking.

"Ah, Itachi. Welcome, sit down."

And he did. All the way across the room from her. The meeting seemed to last forever, but once it was over, she headed out the door by herself. Afraid she would disappear again, into the darkness, Itachi ran to catch her.

"Mi-chan?" He asked, finally, grabbing her arm and looking into her eyes, not quite believing.

She bit her lip. "Itachi."

He shook his head, trying to steel himself. "Why? What happened?"

"I... I told you, didn't I? How I felt their eyes on me. Did you not wonder why, what it was they saw? I'll tell you. I'm all alone. My parents died in the war. I saw them die. I remember. I remember everything."

"What do you mean?"

"It's all etched into my memory. The moment they died, when I was two. Every moment since. I can't forget anything, no matter how much I want to. That's why, Tachi-san. That's why they took me away. That's why I tried to hide. It didn't work." The bitterness in her voice was stark. Horrible. Sharp as a knife. Then Itachi saw she was crying.

"Mi-chan..." He wrapped his arms around her, gently. Remembering the moment he could have, should have told her he felt exactly the way she did. "I understand. We're exactly the same. Maybe I didn't suffer the way you did... But I know how you feel. I can't stand fighting. I wish I could just walk away and never touch a weapon again. But I can't. As an Uchiha, as a citizen of Konoha, as a shinobi it is my duty. I can't let everyone down. Too many people are counting on me, watching me, looking up to me. Mom... Dad... Sasuke..."

"We are... the same."

"Yeah."

"Oh, Itachi..." She pressed her face into his embrace, tears welling up for the first time in forever.

"Shh... It's okay. It's gonna be okay, Mi-chan. I promise. I'll never let you suffer again."

But such a promise was doomed to fail... As shortly, Itachi would discover.

His father wanted to arrange a coup d'etat. To overthrow the village. And he wanted his eldest son to help him out by spying on the village leaders through black ops.

Minori was the first to guess something was up.

"Itachi? Is something wrong?"

"Mi-chan..." He couldn't lie to her. "Can we talk about it somewhere else? Somewhere... I dunno... More secluded?"

"Sure. Come on."

They went far from the village, though they were supposed to be on duty. All the way to the Final Valley, in fact, by the waterfall. It was strangely serene there.

"Okay, so what is it?"

He told her then. Everything. How troubled he was... How he couldn't stand another war, how he had been warned by the elders that if he might have to dispose of the clan. The clan... His clan- his family. How he had begged them for more time, how they had told him he didn't have much time to spare.

How he only wanted peace, how he was presented an impossible choice.

His voice was shaking by the time he was done, and this time it was Minori who pulled Itachi into her embrace. "Itachi... I'm not going to say it's okay, because I know it isn't... But... Don't keep it inside. It's not good for you. Tell them how you feel."

"I... I can't." Itachi said, choking up. "I can't tell them, Mi-chan. They've already lost faith in me. The clan, even Father... They know I'm not what I seem to be. I can't keep hiding that forever... I'm breaking, Mi-chan. I can't stand it. I can't."

"Shhh." She twined her fingers in his hair gently. "Don't say that. You... You always have a choice."

"No. No, I don't. They've even turned Shisui against me! They have him spying on me. I don't know what to do..."

Minori bit her lip. "Live." She said, quietly. "Live, for now. Don't think about tomorrow yet."

"Don't think about tomorrow?" He asked.

"That's right. Look here." He stared into her deep, black eyes. "See this?" She gestured out across the valley. "See how peaceful it is? Live for that. Live for this."

He turned to face her again, and she pulled him into a gentle kiss. At least, it started out that way, but soon it was much more passionate.

He pulled her close, she twined her fingers deeper into his hair.

When they had to stop to catch their breath, he whispered in her ear. "I love you with all my heart, you know that?"

"I... I love you too, Tachi-kun."

Again, a reversal of what had happened before.

Itachi had to smile at that, even as he had to pull away.

"Why, Itachi?" She asked, quietly. "We're all alone, no one would know..."

"I would know." Itachi sighed. "Besides... I don't want to stain something so pure as our love just yet. It's like you said... This is perfection, isn't it? Live for this."

"I guess..." She said. "You're right. This is enough... For now."

"For now." Itachi agreed.

…

Of course, time ran out.

Itachi met with Madara, the night was planned. Other fateful events occurred, but they are documented elsewhere. Suffice to say that Itachi's relationship with his father and the clan only dissolved even more, much to Itachi's pain.

Suffice to say Itachi killed Shisui, as he led everyone to believe in later days, even though it was an accident. Oh, it was Itachi's fault, all right, but he hadn't intended to kill his best friend.

They'd only been walking across the river, he'd been trying to convince Shisui to see the light, they'd argued. Shisui'd gotten angry, thown a kick, and slipped on the algae-covered rocks even as he tripped Itachi, too.

Itachi hadn't intended to fall on top of him, hadn't intended Shisui to hit his head on a rock and pass out. Underwater, he'd been so confused and air-deprived himself that he wasn't thinking straight when he came up for air. It took him a while to realize Shisui hadn't come up... Of course he knew it was his fault Shisui was dead. He'd started the argument, after all, and if he hadn't fallen in on top of Shisui he might not have been knocked out.

He got the Mongekyo anyway, regardless. And Shisui was dead, regardless. He went ahead and forged the suicide note, went ahead and made it so they'd think he'd set it up, had it planned.

But on that night, after Itachi dressed himself in his ANBU gear, he didn't strike right away.

First he went looking for Minori.

He found her near the Forest of Death. She saw him, then silently went into the forest.

"Mi-chan, wait!" He shouted. "I have to tell you something."

There was no response.

"Minori, can you hear me?" He shouted. He only heard the heavy beating of his own heart. "Miii-chan!"

"Please..." He said, barely a whisper.

He followed her until she finally came to a stop, in a clearing deep in the forest lit by the light of the newly risen moon.

"Mi-chan?" He said, moving gently towards her. "I came to tell you... I have to do this. But you could still escape... They don't have to know that I know you, know who and what you are."

"Itachi..." She said, her voice strangely pained. "I'm... I'm sorry."

She turned to him, and his eyes grew wide in dread. There was blood soaking the front of her uniform, her own hand still twined around the kunai buried in her chest.

He ran to catch her when she started to fall.

"Why?" He asked her, even as he saw the life fading from her form.

She smiled up at him, sad, and reached up to play with his hair. "Silly. It's my choice. I will die with them... So you can be stronger. So you won't have to worry about me..." She let her hand fall. "Pity, though... I wish I could've... Just once..." Tears welled up in her eyes, even as Itachi felt his own eyes growing wet. "I wish we could've been together, Tachi-kun. I wish... I wish... Live for me. Please. Live..."

Her voice trailed off, and she didn't speak again.

"Mi-chan?" He pleaded, quietly. "Mi-mi? Minori?"

There was no response.

So the night came and went, as the story goes. Minori was but one casualty of many. They thought he'd killed her, too, as he made it seem. After all, why would she stain her own pure, innocent hands?

So Itachi joined forces with Madara, pretended to be something, someone he was not. So he joined Akasuki. So time passed, so life went on.

If you could call his existence life.

He spent his hours counting down the time left before Sasuke would kill him, and gain the power to defeat Madara forever. Until the day he could leave his living hell behind and die.

He lived for that moment, the moment he would die, in a kind of futile hope that perhaps, in that instant, he would catch a glimpse of her. Minori. His angel, watching him from heaven.

So Itachi thought.


	3. Three: Final Peace

_Three: Final Peace_

So the story heads towards it's ending. Itachi met Sasuke in a final, desperate battle. He was already sick, already dying. Part of him had been dead a long time.

Itachi had done all he could to spare his little brother. He'd saved him from Orochimaru, given him the power that would kill Madara. Sasuke would never learn the truth. It hurt Itachi that he'd die a villain in his brother's eyes, in the eyes of the world, but that was his fate. He couldn't change it.

"Sorry, Sasuke, this is it." He said, gently, tapping his brother on the forehead like he'd done so many times in their childhood.

He died with a smile on his face.

And as he slipped away from the world, as the world went dark, his brother's confused, stunned, frightened stare was the last thing he saw.

He didn't catch a glimpse of his angel after all.

...

Itachi awakened in the cold world his spirit had been sent to when he died. He hadn't faced Judgement yet, but he was certain that when he did he would be sent to Hell.

"No." A woman's voice said, echoing through the emptiness. Itachi jumped, surprised, and tried to locate the source. "You will not see me if I do not want you to see me." A shrouded figure suddenly formed out of thin air. "But... Since I am about to give you your Judgement... I think you deserve to see me."

"You said "no" a moment ago. Why?" Itachi asked.

"You were thinking I would send you to Hell." The figure smiled. "Tell me why I should, when you have already lived there for the past nine years?"

"I deserve Hell." Itachi said coldly.

The woman's smile vanished. "Perhaps." She mused. "Perhaps not."

"Only a fool would send me to Heaven." Itachi said.

The woman shook her head. "Did I ever say I would send you to Heaven?"

"Well?" Itachi asked. "What then?"

"Life." She said. "That is your punishment."

"Life?" Itachi asked.

"Yes... Life. It can be like Hell, if you make it so. But it can be like Heaven, too. It is up to you. So Life is your punishment... And also your reward."

"I... I do not understand."

"Then perhaps you should speak to one who does." Another figure appeared at her bidding, also a woman. When Itachi saw her, he started.

"Mi... Minori?"

Minori smiled sadly. "Hello, Itachi."

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

Minori looked at the shrouded figure, who smiled coldly. "This woman has also committed an unforgivable sin."

Itachi's brow wrinkled, and Minori sighed. "Suicide, love. I killed myself, remember?"

Of course Itachi remembered. The memory was burned into his mind. It had haunted his dreams more than once over the years...

"Life is her punishment, too." The figure said, simply. "That which she threw away so thoughtlessly for you. Do not take this lightly. Now go. Live. Do not think I am letting you off easy..."

"What do you mean?" Itachi asked.

"There is one alive out there who deserves Hell much more than you, who are only his victims." She smiled cruelly. "Send him to me."

And with that, she sent them away.

…

As Itachi started to wake up again, alive, he felt arms wrapping around him, felt the feather-light touch of something, someone. He didn't have to guess who it was, didn't have to worry.

"Minori..." He breathed.

"Itachi." She whispered, breath on his neck, in his ear.

He felt tears welling up in his eyes. Was it right that he could be so happy at last?

"It's okay." She muttered. "We can be together now. Be at peace, love, be at peace."

Itachi settled into her embrace, rolled over, looked her in the eyes. Her deep, black eyes. They were as full of joy and love as he felt.

"You're right." He said. "It is okay."

The sky was clear, the sun was shining. Maybe heaven wasn't overcast after all.

"Let's not think about tomorrow." Itachi said. "Let's live for today, Mi-chan."

"Let's always live for today." Minori smiled, leaning in close.

Itachi shook his head, smiling.

And at last, he gave in.

...

"What now, Itachi?" Minori asked, laying happily in his embrace. "Do we go home?"

He shrugged. "We could try, anyway." He supposed.

"Maybe we should look for Sasuke first... That kid needs help."

Itachi had to laugh at that.

"Yeah. Let's go get Sasuke and head back to Hidden Leaf. I'm sure they'll take us back without second thought."

"Well... We can try." She sighed, burying her face in his hair. "I want to go home, Tachi-kun."

Itachi smiled, kissing her gently.

"Welcome home, Minori. Be at peace, love. We're together, be at peace."

At home, at peace.

So Itachi thought.

So it was.


End file.
